GV478     
Political Science and Public Policy

This information is for the 2014/15 session.

Teacher responsible

Dr Rafael Hortala-Vallve CON4.16

Availability

This course is compulsory on the MPA in European Public and Economic Policy, MPA in International Development, MPA in Public Policy and Management, MPA in Public and Economic Policy and MPA in Public and Social Policy. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

Course content

In this course we develop tools to analyse important political phenomena including elections, legislative bargaining, lobbying, bureaucracy, civil conflict, and international relations. We focus on game theory as a way of understanding strategic interactions among political actors. Students will learn basic game theoretical concepts and apply them to a variety of political contexts; these tools should be useful both for explaining existing political outcomes and for designing interventions to achieve desired future outcomes.

Teaching

20 hours of lectures and 13 hours and 30 minutes of seminars in the MT. 20 hours of lectures and 15 hours of seminars in the LT. 4 hours of lectures in the ST.

Formative coursework

Students will complete formative problem sets during the course.

Indicative reading

Analysing Politics by Shepsle and Bonchek (W.W. Norton, 1997) provides an excellent starting point and can be used as the main reference for many topics. A full reading list will be distributed at the beginning of the course.

Assessment

Exam (60%, duration: 3 hours) in the main exam period.
Essay (20%, 2500 words) in the ST.
Other (20%) in the MT and LT.

Student performance results

(2010/11 - 2012/13 combined)

Classification % of students
Distinction 17.5
Merit 56.8
Pass 24.6
Fail 1.1

Key facts

Department: Government

Total students 2013/14: 98

Average class size 2013/14: 14

Controlled access 2013/14: Yes

Lecture capture used 2013/14: Yes (LT)

Value: One Unit

Guidelines for interpreting course guide information

Course survey results

(2010/11 - 2012/13 combined)

1 = "best" score, 5 = "worst" score

The scores below are average responses.

Response rate: 85.7%

Question

Average
response

Reading list (Q2.1)

2.4

Materials (Q2.3)

2.1

Course satisfied (Q2.4)

2.4

Lectures (Q2.5)

2.4

Integration (Q2.6)

2.2

Contact (Q2.7)

2.3

Feedback (Q2.8)

2.6

Recommend (Q2.9)

Yes

48.1%

Maybe

35.3%

No

16.6%